We reported back at the beginning of March that we were going to see new firmware for the EOS 5D Mark IV in the near future, though at that time we didn’t know what might be included in the firmware.

We’ve now been told by a couple of people that there has been active communication within Canon about C-Log being added to the EOS 5D Mark IV via firmware, and that an announcement could come at NAB 2017 next month in Las Vegas.

We cannot confirm with 100% certainty at the time of writing this, but things seem to be lining up that we can expect some kind of a major firmware announcement for the EOS 5D Mark IV.

I'm curious -- I'm not a video person (at all) but I always find post-market 'upgrades' like the 7D1's firmware upgrade as a chance to breathe energy into a brand. Mid-cycle of a product, legit upgrades like this make sense to signal the brand will still be around for a while / a refresh isn't coming soon.

But to do it within the first year might imply two very different things:

It wasn't ready at time of launch but now they've got it working well and feel comfortable offering it.

It may have always been working on the camera but it was locked out in firmware to protect higher brand-level camera prices. Perhaps enough people complained that feature wasn't included / Canon underestimated the necessity of that feature such that Canon felt the need to unlock it.

Just curious why Canon wouldn't have this at launch but they are offering/unlocking it now.

I'm curious -- I'm not a video person (at all) but I always find post-market 'upgrades' like the 7D1's firmware upgrade as a chance to breathe energy into a brand. Mid-cycle of a product, legit upgrades like this make sense to signal the brand will still be around for a while / a refresh isn't coming soon.

But to do it within the first year might imply two very different things:

It wasn't ready at time of launch but now they've got it working well and feel comfortable offering it.

It may have always been working on the camera but it was locked out in firmware to protect higher brand-level camera prices. Perhaps enough people complained that feature wasn't included / Canon underestimated the necessity of that feature such that Canon felt the need to unlock it.

Just curious why Canon wouldn't have this at launch but they are offering/unlocking it now.

- A

In the past, Canon upgraded video capabilities because professional broadcast people were willing to buy large numbers of cameras if the features were added. I suspect that this time, Canon marketing is trying to prevent broadcasters from purchasing a different brand. The MK IV while not selling poorly, is not wildly successful either, and the tough climate for camera sales probably induces Canon to provide more features if they boost sales.

Not every broadcaster needs a expensive camera and $50,000 lens. I'd suspect that there is a large market for local television stations, for example. There is really no need for a high end camera to do interviews, or videos of traffic accidents, or even produce local commercials where the cost is a huge factor.

I'm curious -- I'm not a video person (at all) but I always find post-market 'upgrades' like the 7D1's firmware upgrade as a chance to breathe energy into a brand. Mid-cycle of a product, legit upgrades like this make sense to signal the brand will still be around for a while / a refresh isn't coming soon.

But to do it within the first year might imply two very different things:

It wasn't ready at time of launch but now they've got it working well and feel comfortable offering it.

It may have always been working on the camera but it was locked out in firmware to protect higher brand-level camera prices. Perhaps enough people complained that feature wasn't included / Canon underestimated the necessity of that feature such that Canon felt the need to unlock it.

Just curious why Canon wouldn't have this at launch but they are offering/unlocking it now.

It may have always been working on the camera but it was locked out in firmware to protect higher brand-level camera prices. Perhaps enough people complained that feature wasn't included / Canon underestimated the necessity of that feature such that Canon felt the need to unlock it.

This is probably the more likely reason, but, with so many competitors at cheaper prices offering S-Log/V-Log/etc, its really hard for Canon to justify being so watered down by comparison. Especially when Canon's C-Log is really, really good.

It doesnt really. It increases the dynamic range you can pull in color grading, but, since its just basically a picture style, it doesnt have a big impact on file size. Unlike things like RAW or writing in ProRes.

I'd suspect that there is a large market for local television stations, for example. There is really no need for a high end camera to do interviews, or videos of traffic accidents, or even produce local commercials where the cost is a huge factor.

TV stations need reliability and fast turnaround. Neither of which DSLR shooting provides. For the price of a 5dIV rigged out to actually capture audio (so, probably closer to $4-5k), they could instead have a C100 that actually handles pro audio.

This is actually a big boon to someone like a wedding videographer or some run and gun documentary people. I know for me, having Panasonic be so feature rich for video makes it an easy choice over any Canon camera. If Canon were to catch up (say offer C-Log and 4k in their 6dII), I'd gladly move back because I like the Canon lens selection and DPAF

I'd suspect that there is a large market for local television stations, for example. There is really no need for a high end camera to do interviews, or videos of traffic accidents, or even produce local commercials where the cost is a huge factor.

TV stations need reliability and fast turnaround. Neither of which DSLR shooting provides. For the price of a 5dIV rigged out to actually capture audio (so, probably closer to $4-5k), they could instead have a C100 that actually handles pro audio.

This is actually a big boon to someone like a wedding videographer or some run and gun documentary people. I know for me, having Panasonic be so feature rich for video makes it an easy choice over any Canon camera. If Canon were to catch up (say offer C-Log and 4k in their 6dII), I'd gladly move back because I like the Canon lens selection and DPAF

Also a big perk to news photographers that shoot stills + video on assignment like myself. Would help a lot in less breaking situations where we have post-processing time on videos, like interviews or features. We don't have any dedicated video people at the newspapers I work with, so it falls back to the photojournalists to get it done.

I shoot my assignments with a 1DX mark II and 5D mark III, so I really hope Canon brings it to the 1DX mark II as well. That would really give me a great incentive to upgrade my Mark III to a Mark IV with the ability to match the footage and shoot both in C-Log.

I would guess it was not quite ready or not completely tested out at the time of launch or they wanted to milk customers with 1DC. If Canon introduce C-log in 5D4 I wonder what they do with 1DC. May be they stopped manufacturing 1DC already?

I'm curious -- I'm not a video person (at all) but I always find post-market 'upgrades' like the 7D1's firmware upgrade as a chance to breathe energy into a brand. Mid-cycle of a product, legit upgrades like this make sense to signal the brand will still be around for a while / a refresh isn't coming soon.

But to do it within the first year might imply two very different things:

It wasn't ready at time of launch but now they've got it working well and feel comfortable offering it.

It may have always been working on the camera but it was locked out in firmware to protect higher brand-level camera prices. Perhaps enough people complained that feature wasn't included / Canon underestimated the necessity of that feature such that Canon felt the need to unlock it.

Just curious why Canon wouldn't have this at launch but they are offering/unlocking it now.